The present invention relates to a method for producing tubular knitted articles, in particular wear-ready clothes articles, on a flat knitting machine with at least two opposite needle beds and a machine carriage with at least three knitting systems, wherein the knitted articles have at least one region with narrowing of the stitch number and wherein at most with each second needle of one needle bed stitches are produced and correspondingly a stitch-carrying needle of the one needle bed extends outwardly beyond a free needle of the other needle bed.
In clothes articles which are produced as tubular articles ready-to-wear on the flat knitting machine, practically no more clothes works are performed, or in other words, they are relatively cost-favorable in the manufacture. This cost advantage however narrows when patterned-on-demand articles must be produced, whose contour corresponds to the shape of the body by expanding or reducing of the knitting rows. In particular during the reducing processes, additional carriage strokes for stitch transfer operations are required, which increase the knitting time for the clothes article.
According, it is an object of present invention to provide a method for producing of tubular articles on a flat knitting machine, which provides a particularly rational process for reducing tubular knitted articles.
In keeping with these objects and with others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of the present invention resides, briefly stated, in a method of producing tubular articles on a flat knitting machine, in which in accordance with the present invention for both-side narrowing of the knitted article the following steps are performed:
a) In a first carriage passage
narrowing of the knitted article suspended on the front needle bed on for example a left edge region, stitch formation for the knitted article suspended on the rear needle bed, and narrowing of the rear knitted article on the opposite, for example right edge region of the knitted piece;
b) In a second carriage passage
narrowing of the rear knitted piece on for example a left edge region, stitch formation for the front knitted piece, and narrowing of the front knitted piece on the opposite, for example, right edge region of the knitted piece,
c) Repetition of the steps a and b until the desired narrowing of the knitted article is obtained.
In this process the number of stitches, by which the knitted piece is narrowed can vary from one narrowing cycle to another narrowing cycle.
In accordance with the old method disclosed in the prior art, for narrowing of the tubular articles total four carriage passages were required. In a first carriage passage the stitches for the rear knitted article piece were formed, in a second carriage passage stitches for the front knitted piece were formed, in the third carriage passage the front knitted piece for example on the left edge region and the rear knitted piece for example on the right edge region are formed, and subsequently in a fourth passage the rear knitted piece was narrowed for example on the left edge region and the front knitted piece was narrowed for example on the right edge region.
In contrast to this method, the inventive method requires only two carriage passages. As a result, the production time of the knitted piece in the narrowing region is narrowed by 50% over the method in accordance with the prior art. This is obtained in that now during each carriage passage, stitches are formed, or in other words no carriage passes are required alone for the transfer processes. The inventive method can be performed for all binding types and for all narrowing types and processes, where tubular knitted articles are utilized.
Preferably, before the first carriage passage those stitches of the front knitted piece on the first edge region which take part in the narrowing process can be transferred to the rear needle bed and those stitches of the rear knitted piece on the second edge region which take part in the narrowing process can be transferred to the front needle bed and subsequently the both needle beds are offset relative to one another in correspondence with the desired narrowing before, during the first carriage passage with a first knitting system, the stitches of the front and rear knitted pieces which take part in the narrowing process are transferred back to the front and rear needle beds, with a second knitting system stitches for the rear knitted piece are formed and with the third knitting system those stitches of the front and rear knitted piece on the corresponding opposite edge region which take part in the narrowing process are transferred to the front and rear needle bed, and before the second carriage passage needle beds are again offset back to their initial position, before in the second carriage passage with a first knitting system those stitches of the front and rear knitted piece which take part in the narrowing process are transferred to the front and rear needle bed with a second knitting system stitching system stitches for the front knitted piece are formed, and with a third knitting system those stitches of the rear and front knitted piece which take part in the subsequent narrowing process are transferred to the front and rear needle bed.
In knitted pieces which on the visible side have both right and left stitches, for example for ribbed knitted articles, during transfer of the stitches which take part in the narrowing also a transfer of the left stitches of the front knitted piece to the rear needle bed and of the left stitches of the rear knitted piece on the front needle bed and then after the stitch formation back can be performed.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the present invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.